About GIVE

 Chief Technology Officer

Hal Debor is a Consulting Engineer who resides in Montreal Canada. For the past 40 years, been active in the Pulp and Paper Industry worldwide. He has extensive experience in the design of large capital projects and is an expert in logistics as applied to material handling systems. Through extensive research, he has developed a manufacturing process for large-scale ethanol plants using sweet sorghum as their feed stock. (www.deborconsulting.com)

He is the Past President of the Sweet Sorghum Ethanol Association which promotes the use of sweet sorghum in the production of ethanol on a worldwide basis. (www.sseassociation.org) 

 Founder & Chairman, Conrad Foundation 

A highly accomplished teacher, author, publisher, entrepreneur, and public speaker, Nancy Conrad is perhaps best known globally for her tireless leadership and ardent advocacy for transformative education.

Nancy attributes her steadfast commitment to education advancement to her life experiences ranging from a high school teaching position in Denver, Colorado, to developing educational products based on the legacy of America’s space explorers. Nancy Conrad created the Conrad Foundation in 2008 to energize and engage students in science and technology through unique entrepreneurial opportunities.

The organization’s flagship program, the Spirit of Innovation Challenge, is a global competition challenging students to combine education, innovation and entrepreneurship to create products that address real-world challenges and global sustainability. By enabling young minds to connect education, innovation and entrepreneurship, the Foundation helps provide a bold platform for enriching the innovative workforce of the future.

Nancy began her career as a high school English teacher and then segued her classroom experience to work in the publishing industry. She was Associate Publisher for International Business Woman magazine, a publication providing business information from a woman’s perspective. Noted interviews include Betty Ford, Kay Koplovitz, Mary Kay, and Caroline Rose Hunt. She also served as a contributing writer for “100 Years of the Automobile” and “100 Years of Moving Pictures.”

She delved into the world of space, beginning as a speechwriter for her late husband Pete. Nancy later co-authored his inspirational biography, Rocketman, published by Penguin. Other noted space writings include interviewing Apollo 11 astronauts for “One Giant Leap for Mankind”, a publication chosen by NASA as the official book for the 25th anniversary of the first lunar landing. She also co-founded Pepper Pike Graphix, an educational comic book publishing company that produced such pieces as “Moon Shot the Flight of Apollo 12,” which was used by actor/director/producer Tom Hanks as a source of research for the HBO series “From Earth to the Moon.”

In 1996, Nancy worked hand-in-hand with Pete to create four companies dedicated to providing ways to make space travel more accessible to all individuals. These companies included Universal Space Network, Universal Spacelines, Universal Spaceware and Rocket Development Company. After developing strategic business plans for each company, she spearheaded many business development initiatives for Universal SpaceNetwork and ultimately became the company’s Director of Communications.

 Director of Renewable and Sustainable Strategies and Technologies

Harry Stokes is a founder and director of Project Gaia, Inc. a non-profit technical and development organization that facilitates the development of safe and environmentally friendly household energy. As director of Project Gaia and principal of Stokes Consulting Group, Harry has for over two decades provided support to industry, governments, financial institutions, and development organizations on resource management issues, particularly around biofuels. Project Gaia is active in India, East and West Africa, Southern Africa and Madagascar, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Project Gaia and an associated organization, the Gaia Association, an Ethiopian NGO, have spearheaded projects funded by the Shell Foundation, the USEPA, the World Bank, UNDP, UNHCR, the Nordic Climate Fund, and African governments, as well as corporate and private funders and donors. For its work in the refugee camps of Ethiopia, the Gaia Association won an Ashden Award in 2008, as well as two Energy Globe Awards for Ethiopia, in 2008 and 2011. 

In 2010 Harry was recognized by the World Bioenergy Association as runner‐up for the First World Bioenergy Award for his efforts to pioneer alcohol fuels for cooking and other household appliance use, especially for consumers at the base of the pyramid. In 2012, he won the World Bioenergy Award. Harry holds a Masters in Forestry from Duke University, 1974, and served for over two decades in county and local government, with representations on state boards and national committees. He was chair of the National Association of Counties Energy Sub‐committee and vice chair in the Land Use, Environment and Energy Committee. He served at state and county levels in the U.S. Conservation District movement (National Association of Conservation Districts) and USDA Cooperative Extension. He began his career in industrial forestry in 1973 as a timber cruiser for Westvaco Corporation in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia.

 Emeritus, Science Advisor

 Dr. Delisi is the Metcalf Professor of Science and Engineering at Boston University, and Dean Emeritus, College of Engineering. He and his colleagues have authored or coauthored more than 300 research papers and books. Most recently his Lab has developed a data mining platform--along with algorithms for identifying subtle patterns in large complex data sets—that is used worldwide by thousands of investigators. He is widely recognized for propelling biomedical science into the era of Big Data as a result of his seminal contributions to the initiation of the Human Genome Project (HGP). Dr Delisi is recipient of numerous awards, including the Presidential Citizens Medal (Bill Clinton) for launching the Human Genome Project.  

 Director of Strategic Alliances

Jim Hurd builds key alliances for cutting-edge entrepreneurial companies, catalyzing deals toward quicker completion. Based in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., Jim founded both the GreenScience and NanoScience Exchanges and also was a professor of renewable energy at Singularity University in Mountain View, CA. Among his accomplishments are the development of strategic alliances: a leading nano lithium-ion battery company; a coal fuel cell company and for Apollo Diamond, the world leader in producing flawless single-crystal diamond for gems. Jim works both in Washington, D.C, and in Beijing and Shanghai on US-China entrepreneurial collaborations and was on the Steering Committee for Silicon Valley for "Cleantech for Obama". Currently, Jim works with government agencies in DC on renewable energy initiatives, including The U.S. Departments of Energy and State, OPIC, the IFC and World Bank. 

Mr. Crespi is a serial “eco-preneur” and a widely experienced strategic advisor, as well as a researcher, writer, and lecturer. He has been a senior advisor in areas ranging from sustainability to “green” product development to many multinational corporations, including Procter and Gamble, L’Oreal, Giorgio Armani, Givaudan, ST Microelectronics, Nespresso and Beijing’s BMK.

Mr. Crespi is also the chief strategist of Pro-Natura International (“PNI”), an international non-profit organization he co-founded in Rio de Janeiro in 1987. Today PNI is active in over 50 countries and its work on sustainable development has been recognized by the US Academy of Science’s 1997 Mitchell prize, widely considered the “Nobel of Sustainability.”

From 1978 to 1991 he was the CEO of BC&A, a New York and Los Angeles-based full service communication and marketing company that counted among its clients many of the world’s top fashion and design companies, including Salvatore Ferragamo, Ermenegildo Zegna, Fendi, Versace, Christofle and Pratesi. In 1978 BC&A did the initial launch of Rodeo Drive, and years later launched the Hard Rock Café.

In 1987 Mr. Crespi co-founded The Mobius Group, a laboratory that used intuitive methodologies in archeology, criminology, and strategic research. Among that firm’s notable and published achievements are the discovery in Alexandria, Egypt of the Timonium (Marc Anthony’s Palace), the Royal Ptolemaic Palace Complex, better known as Cleopatra’s Palace, and of some of the remains of the Lighthouse of Pharos, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Mr. Crespi was born in Switzerland, raised in Rome and was educated at Le Rosey, Switzerland; Barcote College, Oxford; and Georgetown University, where his studies focused on cultural anthropology and economics. A father of three, he holds an Italian and a Brazilian Passport and speaks five languages. Today Crespi lives between New York and Europe after many years spent in Rome, New York, Los Angeles, Beijing and Brazil.

Senior Economic Energy Advisor, Cuba

Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs

Professor of Political Science

University of Nebraska at Omaha

Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado was named Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs at the University of Nebraska Omaha in October 2014. He is the chief student affairs officer with oversight of diversity, inclusion, and equity issues on campus and was instrumental in the creation of scholarship programs at UNO serving first-generation college students and other under-represented groups.

He is also a Professor of Political Science, with an emphasis on U.S. Foreign Policy, International Development and National Security. He was Treasurer of the American Political Science Association, currently serves as the Interim Director for the UNO Office of Latino and Latin American Studies (OLLAS), and is a Faculty Associate with the University of Georgia’s Center for International Trade and Security. He was the Director of the UNO Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence Program under the auspices of the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Dr. Benjamin-Alvarado also serves on the Boards of the Salvation Army, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Humanities Nebraska, Project Harmony (Connections) and Film Streams in Omaha. 

Since 1992, he has visited Cuba 30 times for field research on energy and economic development and has conducted interviews with a number of senior government officials in Cuba’s energy and related agencies. He has served as a technical advisor to a number of US delegations to Cuba and Latin America on energy development, national security and strategic (nonproliferation) trade issues and regularly speaks on these issues in Washington, D.C. and across the nation. He has published numerous articles, monographs and commentaries on these subjects in newspapers, scholarly and policy journals including The Political Science Quarterly, The Nonproliferation Review, Cuba in Transition, and Yaderni Kontrol (Russia). In 2012, he edited Cuba’s Energy Future: Strategic Approaches to Cooperation with the Brookings Institution Press. He is also the author of Power to the People: Energy and the Cuban Nuclear Program (Routledge, Inc., 2000). A native of California, He received his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in 1997, and M.A. from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) at Monterey in 1992. He also attended UCLA, and Harvard University. 

Chief Middle East Energy Advisor

Eng. Elhelwa (Executive Chairman) is a solar development expert who also acts as the Vice President & Co-managing Partner of the Mediterranean Solar Plan (MSP). Before Establishing IQ Power Mr. Elhelwa received his degree from West Virgina University, Morgantown, as a petroleum engineer and became an Independent Consultant on Petroleum & Renewable Energies.  Eng. Elhelwa has worked in several countries including the United States as a Petroleum & Natural Gas Engineer focus on Reservoir Engineering & Economics. Mr. Elhelwa’s experience spans multiple countries, including Egypt, Tunisia, Australia, Libya, United States, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey, Malaysia, Equatorial Guinea, Bahrain, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Algeria. Mr. Elhelwa participated in post-graduate studies in Finance, Business, sales and marketing at The University of North Carolina and Dale Carnegie Institute.